Life for the diesel fuels began in 1893 when the German inventor Rudolph Diesel published a paper called "The Theory and Construction of a Rational Heat Engine". What the paper described was a revolutionary engine in which air would be compressed by a piston to a very high pressure thereby causing a high temperature.

Because of the high temperatures created, the engine was able to run a variety of vegetable oils including hemp and peanut oil. At the 1911 World's Fair in Paris, Rudolph ran his engine on peanut oil and declared 'the diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and will help considerably in the development of the agriculture of the countries which use it."

Diesel was a man with a vision, he believed his highly efficient engine would allow people to take on and break free from the large industries, which had virtually monopolized the dominant power source of the time - the expensive and inefficient steam engine. Not everyone shared his vision though.

In 1913 Rudolph Diesel died mysteriously. Shortly after finishing supper one night during a channel crossing aboard his steamboat he simply disappeared. His body was found a few days later adrift in the English Channel. His death has never been properly explained but it is thought that he may have been assassinated by the German government to keep diesel engine technology out of the UK submarine fleet. Germany was preparing for war at the time but Rudolph Diesel remained friends with many leading members of the British government and military. Shortly after his death Germany introduced diesel-engine U-boats. This was not technology they would have wanted to share.

After Rudolph Diesel's death the petroleum industry capitalized on the diesel engine by naming one of their by-products of the gasoline distillation process 'diesel fuel'.

Within a few years, the petroleum companies had monopolized the market for cheap fuel with their by-product and it was largely forgotten that diesel engines could be powered on just about anything The next 70 years would see nearly all research focused on how to improve the performance of the engine using petroleum based diesel fuel.

Production of Diesel fuel has polarized into the hands of a few multi-national companies. The western World's obsession with the supply of fossil fuel has seen wars, human rights abuses and environmental destruction just to control the source of this fuel.

Today the diesel engine is the workhorse of the 21st century. It is used around the planet to power cars, boats, trucks, buses and ships and diesel generators are the favored emergency back up supplies in the event of an electricity failure.

Using biodiesel offers a chance to break this hold and return production of fuel back to small-scale local producers. The ability to produce a high-grade road fuel using a local waste product, without the need for expensive technology is just one of the many advantages of Biodiesel. Nearly 100 years after his death we might see Rudolph Diesels vision achieved